GLENN CARDIER-The Essential Collection (2002-2012)

GLENN CARDIER

I Like it

GLENN CARDIER

The Essential Collection (2002-2012)

Released 1 March 2014

Fantastique Productions

Written by Nicholas Nedelkopoulos 

20th November 2018

The first time I had heard Glenn Cardier was back in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s and then I bought his first album Days of Wilderness (1972 Infinity) and another 2 albums were released Only When I Laugh (1973 Infinity) and then Glen Cardier (1976 EMI). He was one of those fine singer songwriters often referred to as a troubadour, we had a small number of those in Australia, Doug Ashdown, Ross Ryan and Mike McClellan just a few that come to mind.

It was only until I received a copy of Kerryn Tolhurst & Chris Blanchflower’s 2016 tribute album to Greg Quill, Some Lonesome Picker that I came across Glenn Cardier again. It had been 4 decades since Cardier’s last album Only When I Laugh so I Googled Glenn Cardier to find after a period in England performing and writing songs he eventually came back to Australia and hung up his guitar for about 25 years.

In 2002 Cardier started playing live and recorded a batch of new songs, which lead to his self produced album, Rattle The Cage. And then followed another 4 albums, Exiles From Eden (2002), House Of Mirrors (2004), Stranger Than Fiction (2012) and Cool Under Fire (2016).

While one wonders what Cardier was doing in that 25 year hiatus I was busy wondering how I could have overlooked Cardie’s 21st Century Recordings, that is 16 years of recording and performing that had slipped under my radar, a terrible sin, for someone who considers himself to be a music fan.

The Essential Collection (2002-2012) was a good way to catch up and I was instantly won over. Cardier’s voice was much raspier and spiced with a glimpse of madness, a lived in voice unlike that of the sweet voice of the young Cardier.

Signs and Wonders is an allegory of hope, wonder and longing. Cardier makes a commitment to love (“I’ll be there for you. I promise”) from a grim town where "the same old windows broken, and all of town has tumbled down, same old mess on the ground" this could be the description of many dying country towns. No jobs, no cash, no savings or tradesmen to fix anything that’s broken down or a resident with the spirit or pride to keep things tidy. The young have nothing to do except to drive around the block and rebel by crossing against the lights then eventually they move on and take a chance with the city life, a life of chasing dreams.

While our cities are congested and over populated and the infrastructures are breaking down nothing seems to work properly and yet we are pressured economically by being overcharged and getting less for it. Public transport doesn’t run on time or just doesn’t run at all and when it does you just cannot get on it and if you can you are cramped in like a sardine in a tin can. The young must wonder whether they really made the right decision as they live within the pressure and demands of the big city. But they have the energy to cope with it.

The Best of It

Cardier has written and woven many an inspirational line "Sometimes that’s all you need, just sleep and nothing more, with no added complications, like dreams and creaking doors, and it falls into place and it’s good as it can get, Sometimes it all works out, Every piece a perfect fit, sometimes we just get by, and make the best of it". They are the sentiments that I grew up with, Glenn Cardier has managed to get into a song. There was a generation like my parents one, who knew how to make the best of the little they had. And never let things get them down or stop them from having happy productive lives.

She Flew Away

A song about a woman who set fire to her kitchenette then turned on the TV as loud as it could get and then got up and left. She left the casserole on the wall and could see all dreams scattered around. She took her biscuit tin of secrets and she sang a song about a girl who never had a worry in the world. I can’t help think 'She Flew Away' might be a song about a woman who committed suicide or at least tried too.

Cold Out There

When I first heard this it was an icy cold Melbourne Winter day. I had been stuck indoors with a cold and just started to feel a bit better but still hadn’t been able do very much at all. But this evening is a warm Spring Melbourne day. I have finally started writing my thoughts on Glenn Cardier's album. What a great album, what great songs. 'Cold Out There' is the sort of song you can play and play until there’s nothing left of the CD. What fitting lyrics for Melbourne Winters. Well it cheered me up on what had been a dreary ice cold Melbourne winter.

Cardier’s ‘The Essential Collection (2002-2012)’ is a terrific way to acquaint or reacquaint yourself with one of Australia’s finest singer-songwriters. The album offers 20 tracks described to be the most powerful, enchanting songs by an Australian singer-songwriter Glenn Cardier and I would agree with that, in fact there are far too many great tracks that I could do justice in writing about. An album collection should never be without at least a couple of Glenn Cardier albums.